ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. One of the books of the New Testament. The title, Acts of the Apostles (simply Acts in the old Codex Sinaiticus), was not bestowed by the author, and does not correspond to the con tents of the work. The book seeks to describe a great historical fact, namely, the growth and expansion of the Christian Church, under the guidance of the spirit of Jesus, from its be ginning in the small group of personal friends and disciples of Jesus (who were all Jews liv ing in or near Jerusalem), until, having pene trated the Gentile world, it finally reached and gained a foothold in the capital of the empire, Rome itself. That this, and not to record the acts or deeds of the apostles, was the purpose of the work is indicated in i, 8, which forecasts the general plan and contents. The narrative begins with Jesus' last interview with His disci ples before His ascension, and then exhibits the origin and development of the Christian community or church, externally, in virtue of the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost and of the preaching and missionary activity of the spirit filled apostles, especially Peter and John; and internally, in reference to certain details of organization and modes of conduct and wor ship. In its first stages the movement was confined to Jerusalem or its immediate vicinity, was limited to Jews exclusively, and in due time attracted the attention of the Jewish au thorities, who tried in vain to check its progress (i, 1— vi, 7). A crisis came when Stephen, a Hellenistic Jewish convert, who had defined this as different from and superior to the existing Jewish system, suffered martyrdom, and a violent persecution of the Christians of Jerusalem followed. The resultant scattering of active Christian workers throughout Pales tine only fostered the growth of the new movement, and soon Christian disciples and communities were to be found in all parts of the land (vi, 8— viii, 39).
As yet, however, the Gospel had been preached to none but Jews. But soon, under the guidance of the Spirit, the movement took on a larger scope, and to the Gentile world the blessings of the new faith were made known. The historian notes three significant
facts that were influential in bringing about this great result: (1) The conversion of Saul, the ardent Jewish persecutor, destined to be come the great apostle to the Gentiles (ix, 1-30); (2) The revelation to Peter in the case of the Roman centurion Cornelius of Caesarea (ix, 31— xi, 18) ; (3) the spontaneous preaching of the Gospel to Gentiles at Antioch and its consequences (xi, 19-30). After noting the vain attempt of Herod Agrippa I to check the growth of the Church (Ch. xii), the in terest of the narrative centres on the great Gentile-missionary propaganda, of which the chief exponent and champion was the Apostle Paul. The first section of this (xiii 1— xv, 35) tells how Paul and Barnabas, by direc tion of the Holy Spirit, were the first to conduct a mission to the Gentiles on a large scale, and how the seal was set on this work by the apos tolic council at Jerusalem. The remainder of the work is devoted to Paul's subsequent mis sionary activity, first in the East. (Asia Minor, Macedonia, Achaia) and then, after his arrest and imprisonment, in Rome itself, though as a prisoner (xv, 36— xxviii). The book ends somewhat abruptly.
As 'Acts> is the only early account in exist ence of the apostolic period', and is also our one and only source for the historical back ground of Paul's Epistles, and thus enables us to construct an intelligible outline of the great apostle's career, its value is inestimable.
Because of its great importance 'Acts> has been subjected to a criticism more severe than has been meted out to any other New Testa ment book with the possible exception of the fourth Gospel.
The traditional view that was writ ten by Luke the physician, one of Paul's com panions and fellow-workers, the author of the third Gospel, may be said still to hold its place. No other view has succeeded in gaining any general acceptance. The uniformity of style and vocabulary shows quite conclusively that the book is the work of one hand, and until a more plausible view is set forth the early church's tradition that it was Luke's hand is to be accepted as true.